Criticisms of the ‘Lecture’ Method in the Teaching of Nursing Students: The Case of Nurse Tutors in Bamenda, Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction: The lecture method is used by most teachers in educational institutions such as the Nurse Training Schools in Bamenda. The lecture method of teaching remains the most common or dominating teaching method in adult education all over the world. There is heavy reliance on lecture where other methods could be used to achieve lower order and even higher order objectives during teaching/learning. Problem: This method of teaching predominates in Bamenda and in other parts of the country despite the fact that it has been criticized as being too teacher-centered and its effectiveness questioned. Its relative ineffectiveness as compared to other (active) teaching methods include inadequacies in instilling affective and psychomotor skills in nursing students and renders learners passive during the teaching-learning process, among others. Objectives: To assess nurse tutors’ knowledge on the criticisms of the lecture method and identify ways they use to overcome the criticism during teaching. In assessing the knowledge, attendance at seminars on teaching methods was also assessed. Research Methods and Materials: The explorative descriptive method was used whereby, nurse tutors were served with questionnaires reflecting the study objective. These were further used to elicit information on a cross sectional basis on the knowledge of criticisms of the lecture method, ways of overcoming the criticisms and possible sources of knowledge like attendance at seminars on teaching methods Results: Show that, majority of the nurse tutors both old and young were aware of the fact that the lecture method has been criticized a lot yet it is still being used. Conclusion: The conclusion is therefore that Nurse Educators plan their work and use a mixed method approach in teaching as much as possible so as to get student nurses actively involved in the teaching/learning process. Hence, the lecture method should be reduced.